There will be a gathering of Southwest Indian poets, storytellers, singers, writers at
NAVAJO COMMUNITY
COLLEGE AT TSAILE LAKE on July 5 through 7. The theme will be the Continuum of Indian
Life in various
modest the inter-relationship of People, Place, words. The program will include Andrew
Natonabah (Navajo
medicineman & Instructor in Navajo Culture & Psychology at NCC) , Jones Van
Winkle, Navajo translator &
storyteller, Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma poet, storyteller), Soge Track (Taos storyteller, poet),
Emerson Blackhorse
Mitchell (Navajo novelist) , Roberto Sandoval (Indian poet) , Paul Ortega (Indian rock
composer), Harold Littlebird
(Santo Domingo poet, artist, singer), Tony Lee (Navajo poet), LaVerna John (Navajo singer), and
others. The
program will take place in the hogan shaped Navajo Community College Learning Center,
among the pinyon groves
that surround the college, and somewhere in the Chuska mountains and Canyon de Chelly area.
There will also be a
panel discussion of the theme. Discussants will include Carl N. Gorman, Simon J. Ortiz, Soge
Track and a Native
American university professor. Accomodations are restricted, so please contact the director as
soon as possible if you
wish lodging. Camping places are available in Canyon de Chelly National Park and at
Wheatfields Lake north of
Gallup. Transportation may be arranged from Gallup, N.M. or Farmington, N.M. if prior
arrangements are made. The
conference/festival will be video and audio taped; and we hope that this may be made available
to those who wish to
use it. There will be a publication of the conference/ festival. For additional information
contact:
Randall Ackley, Director,
SWPC
NAVAJO COMMUNITY COLLEGE
at TSAILE
Chinle, Arizona 86503
telephone: 602 724 3311

If you wish to participate in either of the proposed seminars, please contact the seminar
director as soon as possible.
He must have a list of names to MLA very soon. if you wish to attend the meeting of ASAIL,
please notify the
secretary.

{2}
A REVIEW OF INDIAN BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Wayne Franklin
University of Iowa

As anyone involved in teaching or
studying American Indian literatures must know, there is no single, compact
bibliography to guide work in the field. And because, for so many of us, the field is an alien one,
this lack of a good
guide is even more of a handicap than it would be in more familiar areas. Coming up with
authoritative and authentic
texts is hard enough; but when one tries to develop accurate background information for those
texts the job may seem
bewilderingly complex, if not altogether impossible. Even that first resource of the scholarly
researcher, the card
catalog of a good library, is not of much help, for some of the best libraries in the country have
only basic holdings in
the field. What's more, the means of cataloguing Indian materials seem designed to frustrate the
novice; only rarely is
the category IndiansofNorthAmerica--Literature used,
so one winds up looking for texts in "Folklore," "Myths," and
"Religion," as well as in other, less immediately relevant classifications. In view of these and
other problems, the
present review of Indian bibliographies is both descriptive and prescriptive; in reviewing what
has been done, I have
found myself empirically defining what ought to be done in the future. Hence my comments on
what is lacking in any
one work are not merely negative; they indicate what I think should be included in that ideal
guide which all of us
hope to see written in the next few years.

I want to start with one of the
more recent works, Jack W. Marken's TheIndiansandEskimosofNorthAmerica:
ABibliographyofBooksinPrintThrough1972 (Vermillion, S.D.: University of South Dakota Press, 1973). It
is a
hefty volume, especially when it is compared with some of the brief earlier lists discussed below
(such as that of
Arlene Hirschfelder's). But it is, perversely enough, almost too large; certainly it is unwieldy. It
suffers from, among
other things, a paucity of classification. There are five main parts: "Bibliographies" (24 entries);
"Handbooks" (19
entries); "Autobiographies" (62 entries); "Myths and Legends" (268 entries);
and--dismayingly--"All Other Books"
(about 2500 entries). Now it is true that a subject can be divided and subdivided until it looks like
a map of Germany
before unification. But especially in a field like Indian studies a little bit of even over-zealous
partitioning is
absolutely necessary. Certainly Marken's book would have profited from a more orderly
approach. The last division of
his list takes up fully 160 pages of his text, while the first four together total only 25 pages; hence
"All Other Books"
is nothing more than an omnium-gatherum of miscellaneous (and in part irrelevant) items
presented in a single
alphabetical listing which begins with "A" on page 28 and finally gets down to "Z" on page 187.
Beyond such things
as perusal-- or the checking of the exact words of a title, or the verifying of a publisher or a
price-- the bulk of
Marken's list is so lacking in order as to be almost useless.
We are all a bit eccentric when it
comes to matters of organization. But Marken's book would be vastly more
helpful, I submit, if it were broken down into culture areas (either the fifteen of Murdock or the
eleven of Stith
Thompson), and then into tribes. To be sure, even this suggested approach would create its own
problems. For one
thing, Marken has included not merely books about Indian life (whether by Indians or not), but
also all books by
Indians regardless of their subject matter (as in the case of Arthur C. Parker's ManualforHistoryMuseums--Marken
no. 2280). One may quarrel, of course, with whether or not such books as Parker's have any place
in a bibliography
like Marken's; and objections of this sort are not beside the point, for they underscore what is
probably the most
serious flaw in Marken's book.
That flaw I am tempted to call its
"randomness," for despite that inclusive subtitle ("Books in Print Through
1972"), this volume is in the main simply a list of books in print in 1972 (as Marken
himself admits in his "Preface").
Now there is a vast difference between these two little prepositions, and this difference is the
same as that existing
between the "ideal" bibliography and the one Marken his produced. For what we need at this
juncture is just the kind
of thing promised in Marken's title--a bibliography, thorough and hopefully annotated, of the
great mass of materials
by and centrally about Indians and {3} Eskimos since
the first dim records of European exploration here. Such a work
would take up several volumes; it would burden many scholars in the making; it would cost alot
and would be a long
time in coming. But from the moment of its appearance, it would be the standard tool for future
research.
While we wait patiently for this
"ideal" bibliography, it will be helpful to consider just what kind of interim
guide to the field will be necessary. Such a guide, I believe, should focus clearly on what Indians
themselves have said
and written about Indian attitudes, experiences, and beliefs. It should give us bibliographies as
complete as possible
for the ritual texts and tales and poetry of each tribe (listing all of this bytribe, with an elaborate index which allows
the scholar to locate all similar materials regardless of tribe). Finally, it should give us careful
bibliographical surveys
of the current literary activity among Native Americans: it should list the novels and poetry and
short-stories (so many
of the latter two categories uncollected, fugitive pieces) which we, as students of literature, want
to read and study.
Sad to say, Marken gives us none of
this. His book is a hasty thing--or at least appears to be--a thing gotten up
largely from BooksinPrint (but with even fewer categories than
that faulty guide) with little attempt at originality.
Given its avowed tie to the current publishing market, it is almost a mad book, a book which
seems to rest on the
assumption that no better order can be found in the chaos of Indian and Eskimo studies than that
imposed on it by the
economics of a not-far-from-exploitative publishing industry.
It is true, on the other hand, that
Marken provides us with a "Selected Subject Index" at the very beginning of his
text, an index which supposedly refers the reader to all subjects mentioned at least three times in
the lists in the
Bibliography. But not only does this index fail to list all such subjects (where, for
instance, are the legendary "Mound
Builders," whom I find discussed in three books on one page of Marken's work alone-- nos. 2574,
2582, 2583)--it also
leaves out a number of the most important items for some of the subjects which are indexed
(such as Alfonso Ortiz,
TheTewaWorld, no. 2251). What's more, the subjects which are
indexed seem like a strange bunching (there are only
twenty-eight): Algonquin, Apache, Arapaho, Art, Jim Beckwourth, Blackfeet, Black Hawk,
Geronimo, Hopi,
Iroquois, Kwakiutl, Indian Languages, Mandan, Navajo, Nez Perce, Osceola (Seminole), Pima,
Pocahantas, Pomo,
Pueblo, Sacajawea, Seneca, Sioux (Dakota), Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, Tewa, Yuma, and Zuni.
What about such
subjects as "Indian Agriculture," concerning which there must be at least twenty separate titles in
the lists? Or the
subject of dispossession (not general, but specific, as in Georgianna Nammack's Fraud,
Politics, andtheDispossessionoftheIndians--no. 2172--a book wholly
concerned with the Iroquois and other New York tribes but not
listed, by the way, under "Iroquois," an omission dwarfed by the astounding failure to index
Lewis Henry Morgan's
classic, TheLeagueoftheIroquois, no.
2138).
The "Selected Subject Index," then, is
not really the help it might have been. Indeed, such a short aid (barely two
pages long), even if more accurate and inclusive just in terms of its avowed intent, could not
overcome the inherent
disadvantages of Marken's chosen organization. If one is going to present over 2500 titles in one
alphabetical list then
one ought to present a thorough index along with it. Mere alphabet, like the publisher's marke t,
is no substitute for
scholarly rigor (and yet, if I may add this without seeming petty, if one is going to follow the
alphabet wherever it
leads, one ought to know that names like St. John de Crèvecoeur or Samuel de
Champlain or P.F.X. de Charlevoix
should be entered under the family name proper, not under the particle "de"). Finally, where
classification is so gross
and cross-references are not dependably given, one ought to take care in sorting out various
books: is John Epes
Brown's TheSacredPipe really "Myth and Legend"? Is Witt and
Steiner's TheWay? And is N. Scott Momaday's TheWaytoRainyMountain "Autobiography"?
In almost no sense is Marken's book
that interim guide which we all need, yet because it may seem to be (it
already has received favorable review elsewhere, for example) I have spent so much time treating
it here. In its favor I
can say only a couple of things: first, that it can provide the novice with good beginning booklists
in such areas as
"Myth and Legend" and "Autobiography"; and second, that it can be helpful in ordering texts and
in drawing up
reading lists. Beyond these uses, however, it does not go.

Far more helpful, despite its own
limitations, is Anna Lee Stensland's LiteratureByandAbouttheAmericanIndian, a handbook aimed at high school classes (Urbana, Ill.: NCTE, 1973)--helpful in
part because out of the welter
of Marken's 3000 items it selects some few {4} hundred,
arranges them in sensible groupings, describes them, and
gives, though far too infrequently and briefly, selected comments from Indian sources. There are
nine categories
(Myth, Legend, Oratory, and Poetry; Fiction, Drama; Biography and Autobiography; History;
Anthropology and
Archaeology; Modern Life and Problems; Music, Arts and Crafts; and Aids for the Teacher)--as
well as useful
backmatter (including "Biographies of American Indian Authors" and "Basic Books for a
Collection").
Stensland's usual approach in each
section is to begin with a brief introduction discussing the significance or
particular problems of the subject in hand. Then come the listings themselves, each one
containing a short paragraph
describing (or, in the case of fiction, summarizing) the item; following some descriptions, finally,
are evaluations
drawn from Indian authorities (from, for example, the 1970-71 Book List issued at Gallup, N.M.,
by the Ceremonial
Indian Book Service). Here is a guide, then, which has much of the critical apparatus which one
might wish to find in
Marken. But to have the apparatus is not enough. Stensland is in fact too uncritical in her
selection of included
materials, her own descriptions, and even her use of the "Indian" evaluations. At times, to be sure
(as in the case of
Peter Farb's Man'sRisetoCivilization, p. 120, or Frank
Waters' TheBookoftheHopi, p. 126) her
inclusion of
contradictory or cautionary evaluations is exemplary. But on the whole she could use much more
of this sort of thing.
An example is in order. Readers of
this Newsletter will recall that Larry Evers, in the previous issue, pointed out
that the ambitious anthology of Sanders and Peek (LiteratureoftheAmericanIndian--Glencoe Press, 1973)
sometimes fails to give even the bare minimum of cultural background necessary for a proper
understanding of items
which are included. But Stensland writes that Sanders, and Peek "have provided scholarly
comments on every
possible aspect of Indian life, history, and religion from pre-Columbian days to the present," and
that, "In addition to
providing the English teacher with as wide and varied a selection of short works as possible, the
collection also offers
invaluable information about Indian literature and culture" (p. 32). Stensland's comment may be
true if one compares
Sanders and Peek with Cronyn (see Evers); but Stensland nonetheless fails to underscore the
unevenness of this one
new anthology's apparatus.
The problem I have been outlining
here probably stems from the evident fact that Stensland herself is simply not
"up" on the subject with which she is dealing. Yet I don't mean to be harsh. Certainly the goals of
her volume are
admirable, the organization is lucid, and the attempt always to be cautious about old half-truths
could well be imitated
by all of us.
What are the uses of Stensland?
Simply put, her book is introductory in the extreme; it is intended to help
secondary teachers provide their students with material on Indian life as authentic as possible,
rather than to form
even a rudimentary "scholarly" guide. Hence those engaged in research will find the books
included and excluded
rather striking. Such fine studies as TheTewaWorld simply do not
appear, not out of negligence but out of
Stensland's very real limitations of audience. And the researcher will find particularly frustrating
the inclusion of so
many "white" books, especially novels, which (regardless of their "authenticity" or even just their
lack of glaring
error) have occupied the library and study shelves too long in the place where Indian materials
deserve to be. Like
Marken, Stensland has not produced the interim guide I have tried to describe above. But in
many ways she has come
closer. Her book is more honest, more intelligent, more clear. And though none of us can rest
content with it, we will
use it, I imagine, as a starting place, as a source of preliminary lists and evaluations, as a
reference tool which points
us to the right beginning even if it doesn't travel too far down the path alongside us. I am happy
to recommend it
given the limitations I have noticed (and others I've obviously missed).

ii

I turn now to other tools, some recent and some older, which I think can be of help in the
study and teaching of
American Indian literatures. For the sake of brevity, I simply will list them, and offer brief
comments on their
usefulness (starred items are of prime importance).

This catalog is particularly useful because it is both a subject and an author listing. With the
Supplement, approx.
100,000 items (approx. 275,000 cards with multiple and cross listings). Periodical items listed
only under name of
periodical. Note that relevant materials contained in other Newberry collections are not included
here, and that the
extent of subject cataloging is not consistent throughout.

b) New York Public Library, Reference Dept. Dictionary Catalog of the
History of the Americas, vols. 11-12.
Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1961.

A good supplement to Ayer because it analyzes periodical items; Subject entries by Region
and Tribe (as well as a
"General" section).

Divided into eight sections; the most relevant are those on "Subject and Areas in Folklore"
and "Nationalities and
Ethnic Groups." Very handy for work with JAF.

3) INDEXES: GENERAL

***a) Indian Historian Press and American Indian Historical Society.
Index to Literature on the American
Indian. San Francisco: Indian Historian Press, 1971 et seq.

A new annual which will become of central importance to work in the field of American
Indian literature. 64 subject
classes, including "Literature," "Poetry," "Fiction." Good list as well of "Native American
Publications"--i.e., serials
and periodicals-- included at the end. Probably of more use for finding "secondary" than
"creative" material.

4) BIBLIOGRAPHIES

a) Arlene Hirschfelder. American Indian Authors: A Representative
Bibliography. New York: Association on
American Indian Affairs, Inc., 1970.

A brief list (45 pp.) of Indian writers in various fields. Gives tribal affiliations.

The standard reference work on Indian cultures. Divides N. America into 15 regions, then
into 253 tribal groups. Lists
books and articles, the most important for each area/tribe at the beginning of each entry, followed
by other books and
articles. Does not include manuscripts. More helpful for finding "traditional" literature than for
locating the works of
modern Indian authors (who don't always fit into neat tribal brackets). 17,000 entries.

c) Judith C. Ullom. Folklore of the North American Indian: An
Annotated Bibliography. Washington, D.C.:
Library of Congress., 1969.

Though aimed primarily at children and those who must keep libraries for there and tell
stories to them, this list can
be of use for more scholarly purposes. Divided into the eleven culture areas of Stith Thompson;
highly selective.
Annotations are best feature.

{6}

***d) Charles Haywood. A Bibliography of North American Folklore
and Folksong. 2 vols. New York: Dover,
1961. 2nd ed.

The second volume of this work, "The American Indians North of Mexico, Including the
Eskimos," is a standard
guide to the subject. It is organized regionally and then by tribe. The headings in each section
include
"Bibliographies," "Serial Publications," "Myths and Mythologies," "Folktale-Legends," "Folk
Poetry, etc. ," and
"Proverbs--Riddles." Out of date in some ways (folklore and anthropological journals have been
indexed only through
1948) but very good on myths and legends.

Contains 3684 titles covering the period from 1890 to 1955. Incomplete: many schools did
not cooperate (especially
some of the larger ones), so this list includes only about three-fourths of the dissertations and
theses done in this
period. Although it is organized by a simple alphabetical list, a fine index allows quick access to
all items concerned
with any important subject (see especially the "Literatures, Indian" entry). (Books in Print lists a
1973 reissue
containing a supplement through 1970; I have not seen it yet).

I haven't seen this yet. Perhaps someone who has could write about it in a future issue. I
include it here because of its
apparent uniqueness and its possible value.

***

In closing this review, I would urge those of you who have specialized in various areas or
tribes to submit your own
lists of basic source materials for publication in the Newsletter. Such lists need not be
annotated, though annotation
certainly would be helpful. Also, if I've left out anything which you have found useful, please let
me know, for I will
be updating this review for time to time and I want to include as much good material as
possible.